In the New Yorker...

[serious crayons]

I heard the Clash's "London Calling" at Walgreen's a while back. They probably wanted me to stock up on batteries and bottled water.

If it had been followed by the Talking Heads' "Life During Wartime," I would have known for sure (and I would have picked up some peanut butter). 

[Jeff Wrangler]

Anybody else read the piece about the pencil people in the Nov. 2 "Talk of the Town"? I enjoyed that.

So Eberhard Faber was one single real person.

[Jeff Wrangler]

The Nov. 9 article about Icelandic rescue teams is fun. With names like Halli and Palli, the people sound like Tolkienian dwarves.

I wonder whether they have trees in Iceland? Does anybody know? 

[Jeff Wrangler]

Of course as usual I'm weeks behind in my magazines, but if anyone skipped over the Nov. 23 article "Unfollow: Biblical fundamentalism meets Twitter," I recommend going back and reading it. I was expecting something ho-hum when I started it, so imagine my surprise and fascination to find out that it's about a granddaughter of the infamous Fred Phelps! I'm finding it fascinating.

[serious crayons]

The Nov. 9 article about Icelandic rescue teams is fun. With names like Halli and Palli, the people sound like Tolkienian dwarves.

I wonder whether they have trees in Iceland? Does anybody know? 

I thought it was kind of fun, too. Not quite my first choice in stories, but a cut above duty.

I passed on a link to a coworker who had just gone on a trip to Iceland after years of wanting to visit. I never heard back from her. People in corporate America are so weird. Wouldn't you just send back a quick courteous "Thanks, this looks interesting," even if you never actually read it?

Now I'm reading Kathryn Schulz's piece about weather in literature. It's mildly interesting. But wow, is she well-read. Either that, or she's really good at Google searches and Lexus-Nexus.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I thought it was kind of fun, too. Not quite my first choice in stories, but a cut above duty.

I passed on a link to a coworker who had just gone on a trip to Iceland after years of wanting to visit. I never heard back from her. People in corporate America are so weird. Wouldn't you just send back a quick courteous "Thanks, this looks interesting," even if you never actually read it?

I certainly would.

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

A selection of stories from The New Yorker’s archive


Adaptations

The act of adaptation can be confusing, thrilling, and revelatory. In a way, it’s also a form of time travel, reaching back into the past to alter what’s come before. That’s what’s happened with the many films, books, and television shows that have their roots in The New Yorker. The movie musical “Meet Me in St. Louis,” in which Judy Garland sings “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” started life as a series of short stories written by Sally Benson; “Pal Joey,” starring Frank Sinatra, began as a series by John O’Hara. “The Addams Family” first appeared in a group of New Yorker cartoons. To go back and reëncounter these pieces, after experiencing their adaptations, is to discover classic stories that have been expanded and transformed.

It’s a tradition that continues. In 1997, the magazine published a short story by Annie Proulx about two cowboys who embark on a relationship while herding sheep in Wyoming. (It was the first story, Proulx said, in which her characters appeared “very damn real” to her.) Ten years ago this month, the film adaptation of “Brokeback Mountain” made stars out of the lead actors, Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger, and gave us an immortal line: “I wish I knew how to quit you.”

Adaptations, in short, can be acts of regeneration. This week, we’ve assembled stories that have inspired, after their publication, new works of art. You’ll find Alice Munro’s “The Bear Came Over the Mountain” (the source for the film “Away from Her”), Susan Orlean’s “Orchid Fever” (on which both Orlean’s book “The Orchid Thief” and the film “Adaptation” are based), and Jonathan Safran Foer’s “The Very Rigid Search” (which became part of the book and the movie “Everything Is Illuminated”). We’ve also included “Casualties of War” and “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” both of which have been made into films as well. Finally, we’ve assembled a more comprehensive selection of works adapted from New Yorker pieces: you can read some of the originals online, and download the adaptations on iTunes. These pieces are as fresh today as they were when they were published. They reassure us that, at least in the world of art, there’s something like an afterlife.

—Erin Overbey and Joshua Rothman, Archivists

Fiction | October 13, 1997

Brokeback Mountain
During the day Ennis looked
across a great gulf and sometimes
saw Jack, a small dot moving
across a high meadow, as an
insect moves across a tablecloth;
Jack, in his dark camp, saw Ennis
as night fire, a red spark on the
huge black mass of mountain.

BY ANNIE PROULX



http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1997/10/13/brokeback-mountain

[serious crayons]

A selection of stories from The New Yorker’s archive

Looks like you beat me by two hours, John. I just saw this in my email and came here to post about it. I'm glad you got here first -- I was just going to write a quick comment, but your presentation is much better.

[Jeff Wrangler]

"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" has been made into a film not once but twice. I knew Meet Me in St. Louis was inspired by stories by Sally Benson, but I don't recall knowing that those stories had been published in The New Yorker. Some of the others I knew were connected to TNY; others not.

[Front-Ranger]

Yes, I watched the Ben Stiller version again last week, of TSLOWM and I want to see the Danny Kaye version. I thought the Stiller version was surprisingly good, entertaining, and a reflection of the times, since it depicted the demise of LIFE Magazine.